You're Not Alone: 1st Year
by justagirl97
Summary: What would happen if Sirius Black hadn't decided to chase after Peter Pettigrew and fought to keep Harry instead?
1. I'm Here

You're Not Alone

Chapter 1 – I'm here

Sirius Black sat in his small dusty kitchen in his normal house in Kent. His day had gone as normal as any, he'd gone to the pub after shopping for Harry's Christmas present, even though it was months until Christmas, Sirius loved that kid so much and spoilt him rotten. He'd bought Harry a stuffed dog, stag, werewolf and rat and a miniature Quidditch ball set. He had then gone to the local pub, chatted up some muggle girls and headed home.

Now it was about 8 o'clock on the night on Halloween. He was sitting in his kitchen with a bottle of butterbeer in hand, looking around his kitchen he saw pictures hanging around the walls, mostly of Harry, James and Lily or the Marauders – His best friends. Even though he had been friends with James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew for over 10 years he still couldn't get over how lucky he was to have such loyal and honest friends.

There was a picture of the Marauders when they were about 15 with bags and bags of cakes and drinks they had sneaked from the Hogwarts kitchen under the invisibility cloak using the marauders map.

There was another picture of Lily Potter holding baby Harry the day he had been born and James smiling by her side. Sirius and Remus had their fingers in each of his tiny warm hands and peter was tickling his tummy, they all looked lovingly at the child with bright green eyes who was smiling up at all of them. That was the day Sirius had been asked to be Harry's godfather and Sirius grinned at the memory, which had to be one of the best days of his life.

Still lying on the table was a picture of Harry racing around on the toy broomstick Sirius had got him for his first birthday. Excitement and joy filled the young child's eyes. Next to the picture was the letter from Lily Potter Sirius had received that came with the picture, thanking Sirius for the present. Sirius sighed, he carried the letter around with him everywhere because it was the last time the Potters had contacted him and he missed them so much. When he felt sad he would read the letter, even though he now knew the letter by heart there was something that made him happy by just looking at Lily's neat writing. It was proof that her, James and Harry were all okay.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of young muggle children knocking on his neighbours doors crying 'trick-or-treat' the second the door was opened. A few minutes later he heard the next door neighbour's door close and the children walk excitedly away. He knew they would approach his house at any second so he got his large bowl full of weird muggle sweets and chocolate such as Haribo and Cadburys ready.

He soon heard a knock on his door and opened it to see about 6 children dressed up in 'scary' outfits who all grinned up at him and chorused 'trick-or-treat'. He chuckled and handed the sweets out into the children's buckets. They all muttered 'thank you' and skipped merrily down the path to their next victim.

Sirius closed the door smiling to himself as he thought about the Halloween in his 3rd year when himself and James had gone around Gryffindor dormitories changing the colour of people's skin and hair so they looked like human pumpkins!

His face fell though as he thought about his best friend, James Potter, sitting at his home in Godric's Hollow with Lily and Harry. They were trapped there, waiting for Voldemort to find out where they were hiding and try to kill them. Sirius desperately wanted to talk to his best friend. But since he had been changed from being secret keeper for the Potters he couldn't visit them. Suddenly a thought hit him; he remembered the mirrors that James and himself had bought so that they could contact him. How could he have forgotten? He searched through the messy drawer shoving aside quills and pieces of parchment until he found a square mirror.

He looked into it and called "James."

He called his best friends name a few times, but there was no answer, no lonely brown eyes filled the screen of the mirror. There was something not quite right about the silence that was behind the screen. Sirius knew something must be wrong because even though he hadn't contacted James in a while, he knew that James always carried the mirror around with him and always answered straight away, whether he was hoping for news, or just a chat with his best friend, but he always answered.

Sirius put the mirror on the coffee table and started pacing the room. A million thoughts rushed into his head on what could be up with James; he quickly pushed them out of his mind and debated over what to do. He decided he would fly over to James' house just to check that everything was alright. James was his best friend and Sirius would do anything for him. He rushed to his garage and jumped onto his flying motorcycle, he started the engine and flew through the garage doors, the wind ruffling his hair as he went higher and higher into the dark, starless sky.

10 minutes later he landed in Godric's Hollow outside the Potter's house. He took off his helmet and goggles and spun around to face the house. He gasped at the sight that filled his eyes.

James and Lily Potters once beautiful house, with rhododendrons climbing up the wall and various other flowers bordering the edge, was now a wreck. The neat hedge and gate surrounding the little house was exactly the same, and the house stood quite firmly, but the top right bit of the house was completely blown apart. There was rubble scattered all around the grass and all the windows were all shattered. Sirius let out a cry and rushed forward into the rubble. He knew there was no hope for any of the Potters, but he knew he had to check. He walked through the open front door and into the closest room. There was broken glass, pictures and furniture, but in the middle of all the mess lay James Potter, the moonlight that was coming through the shattered window was shining off his pale body. At the sight tears immediately filled Sirius' gray eyes.

Sirius changed into his animagus form, for that was the form in which he had had some of the greatest times with James Potter. Sirius didn't want to go any further into the house, where he knew he'd find his godson and best friends wife (also the most beautiful woman he'd ever known) lying pale and lifeless, just like James so he snuggled next to James and cried. Sirius Orion Black never cried, but his best friend was dead, the reason Sirius was in Gryffindor was lying lifeless on the floor of his home, the person who was like a brother to him was dead. Sirius lay there for what seemed like years, and quite frankly he wanted to be there years, he wanted to never leave, he wanted to stay with his best friend forever, reflecting on all the fun and amazing times they had together, all the hilarious pranks they played.

His sad thoughts were interrupted by a small cry, Sirius ignored it at first thinking he had just imagined his godson he missed so much already. However when the cry got louder, Sirius finally got up. He knew it was his mind playing tricks on him, but he had to try and make that cry stop, not because it was annoying, no Sirius would give anything to hear that cry, but he'd give anything to hear that cry off a real, living person, not out of his own head. Sirius followed the sound and padded up the stairs and turned right to Harry's nursery. As he got closer, it sounded more real, but Sirius kept convincing himself not to get his hopes up Voldemort wouldn't leave a one year old unharmed. He made his way into the blown up nursery, which was completely rubble, the moonlight shone through the massive hole in the roof. He caught sight of some beautiful red hair from underneath Harry's upturned cot and another cry escaped his mouth. Inside the cot was a small, unmoving bundle with some jet black hair sticking out of the top. Sirius closed his eyes, he knew his mind had been playing tricks on him and he couldn't bear to see anymore. He heard the cry again and cursed his mind for causing him this much pain and regret.

Sirius turned to leave, but as he was doing so the bundle did move. Sirius padded forward and nudged the bundle with his wet nose. It moved again. Sirius couldn't believe what he was seeing. He changed back into his human form and picked Harry up. Bright green eyes looked into his kind grey ones. Harry giggled and another tear slid down Sirius' pale cheek.

This little boy didn't know that he would never see his parents again, never watch fascinated as James turned into a stag and back, clapping his tiny hands and begging for more, he would never be cuddled by his mother again.

Sirius spotted a scar on his forehead in the shape of a lightning bolt and he made a mental note to ask Dumbledore when he next saw him.

Sirius looked at the little boy's happy face again and knew it was his job now to look after Harry, to keep him safe. He held the little boy close to his chest and made his way outside.

Sirius briefly wondered what had happened to Voldemort but his mind quickly turned to Peter Pettigrew. This man had supposedly been one of his best friends, but he had betrayed James. Sirius wanted revenge. He wanted to rip Peter limb from limb and burn the pieces. How could Peter have done this to such kind and wonderful people? He wanted to get revenge.

Sirius walked down the stairs and past the lifeless form of James, as he did so Harry put his arm towards James and whispered "Dada,".

Another tear slid down Sirius' cheek as he stepped out of the front door and stood gazing at the house of the Potters for a few minutes, Harry in his arms. He heard a gasp behind him and spun round while whipping his wand out.

"Sirius, Sirius, it's jus' me!" Sirius saw the silhouette of a very large man standing before him.

"Oh Hagrid it's just you!" Sirius said lowering his wand, Harry still firmly in his arms.

"Yeah, yeah it's jus' me," Hagrid mumbled, tears trickling down his face as he stared at Lily and James' house, "anyway, I'm here 'cause Dumbledore needs me to take 'Arry, I think he's found a new home for 'I'm."

Sirius stared at Hagrid open mouthed, "But he's my godson, I'll look after him." He clutched Harry to his chest protectively.

"Sorry Sirius, Dumbledore's orders," Hagrid said, his black beetle eyes now looking at the small baby Harry who was chewing on the blanket he was wrapped in.

Sirius looked at the little baby too. He was torn between letting Hagrid take Harry so he could go and rip Peter Pettigrew's guts out. He gave Harry to Hagrid, knowing he had no choice when it came to Dumbledore.

"You can borrow my motorbike if you want, it flies."

"Thanks Sirius,"

Sirius smiled, he was about to apparate to see if he could find Pettigrew and make him regretted being born, when a small voice from behind him whispered 'Siri'.

Sirius spun around and the little boy was reaching his hands out for Sirius.

Peter can wait, Sirius decided. This little boy needed him.

"Um Hagrid," Sirius called, "Do you mind if I come, I would like to speak with Dumbledore."

"No problem," Hagrid replied.

Sirius jumped onto the motorbike and started the engine. The three of them lifted off into the air and sped off towards Surrey.

They landed in a very quiet and tidy neighbourhood from what Sirius could see by the pale light of the moon. Hagrid jumped off and walked towards two silhouettes, they were both tall and thin, one a bit taller than the other. Sirius followed with Harry clutched tightly in his arms.

"Professor Dumbledore sir, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said, halting next to the two figures.

"Good evening Hagrid, and Mr Black," Dumbledore said smiling at Sirius, the smile didn't make his eyes twinkle however like they normally did.

"Hello, is there any reason as to why you are not letting my godson live with me?"

"Well we just figured that since you betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort you might do the same with Harry." McGonagall snapped.

Sirius couldn't believe what he was hearing; Dumbledore thought HE had betrayed Lily and James! "WHAT," Sirius shouted, while Dumbledore shushed him, "don't bloody shush me, you think I betrayed Lily and James?"

"Well you were their secret keeper," said Dumbledore, quite calmly.

"No, we changed it to Pettigrew a few weeks ago," Sirius said, a bit calmer now he realised that Dumbledore didn't know about their change of secret keeper.

Dumbledore stared into Sirius' eyes for a few moments before speaking "Sirius, listen I did think that it was terribly unlikely that you would do such a thing to James and Lily but one can never be too careful. Do you mind if I quickly give you some Veritaserum, just to make sure? " Dumbledore asked.

"Sirius sighed, he had nothing to hide and he wanted to get this over with so he could take Harry back to the safety of his home, "Yeah, I guess that's fine,"

Dumbledore reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a tube of Veritaserum and poured a few drops into Sirius' open mouth. Sirius was still clutching a warm and sleeping Harry to his chest.

"What's my name?" Dumbledore asked.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," Sirius replied instantly, he hated being under the influence of Veritaserum because he had absolutely no control, but he knew he had to do this in order to be allowed to look after Harry.

"Okay and what's your name?"

"Sirius Orion Black"

"Who was the secret keeper for the Potters?"

"I was until a few months ago when James and Lily changed it to Peter Pettigrew because they thought it would be really obvious that I was their secret keeper, so that's why they changed it,"

Dumbledore smiled, "One more thing, do you promise to look after Harry like he was your own?"

"Of course I will," Sirius replied.

Dumbledore nodded his head and placed his wand on Sirius' head and muttered an incantation, Sirius immediately felt the Veritaserum leave him.

"Thank you Sirius," Dumbledore said.

"That's ok, so can I look after my godson?"

"Yes, but the boy will be famous now because he has survived Voldemort so you need to make sure he doesn't let it get to his head."

"Yeah, yeah, please can we go, I need to get Harry to bed."

Dumbledore smiled, "Yes, of course."

Sirius turned around and jumped onto his motorbike and sped off into the pitch black sky. Harry, who had fallen asleep on the way woke up and looked at Sirius, Sirius stared into Harry's emerald green eyes. Sirius knew Harry might have realised vaguely what had happened as he looked at Sirius with concern.

Sirius bent his head down and whispered into Harry's tiny ear, "Don't worry Harry, I'm here."


	2. The Letter

You're Not Alone

Chapter 2 – The Letter

"Sirius, Sirius, Sirius, Sirius, Sirius" Sirius glanced over at his alarm clock; it read 5:30am, Sirius grunted and rolled over, "SIRIUS ORION BLACK."

"Harry James Potter, get off my bed and go back to your own," Sirius moaned back putting a pillow over his head.

"No way, you're awake now and you can never get back to sleep once you're awake!" Harry said ripping the pillow out of Sirius' hands, causing an explosion of feathers.

"You know me to well," Sirius sighed swinging his legs around the side of the bed, seeing the feathers he chuckled, "Look what you've done now..."

"Guess what, guess what, guess what?" Harry asked jumping up and down on the bed amongst the feathers.

"You're godfather is going to have the biggest headache known to man?" Sirius asked ruffling his godson's messy black hair.

"No," Harry said ducking out of his godfathers reach.

"Um, let's see. You're face will never be the same again if you wake me up this early one more time?"

"NO," Harry said, smiling at his Godfathers stupidity, "I'VE GOT MY HOGWARTS LETTER!"

"Harry, I think there's someone in Australia who didn't hear you," Sirius said, using all his energy to get up and jump up and down on his king-sized bed with Harry.

"Can I have some breakfast to celebrate?" Harry asked pulling Sirius out of his messy bedroom.

"No, I think I'm just going to go back to bed..." Sirius joked lying down and pretending to snore.

"No way!" said Harry jumping on top of Sirius and forcing him to head down the stairs with Harry on his back, "We need to party all day and all night and get drunk!"

"No Harry, I need to be a responsible Godfather, you can't get drunk until your 11th birthday."

"Really?" Harry asked, his bright green eyes lighting up.

"No. So what do you want for breakfast? Frog spawn juice and Hippogriff toes?" Sirius asked sitting Harry down on the kitchen table.

"No thanks, could we have chocolate pancakes?" Harry asked before adding "Pleaseeeeeeeeeee?" on the end after seeing his Godfather frown at him.

"Oh, but I thought Frog Spawn juice sounded rather yummy!" Sirius joked, "Or would you rather Niffler fur and goblin piss?"

It was Harry's turn to frown now, but he couldn't hold it for long so started jumping up and down again singing I'm going to Hogwarts, I'm going to Hogwarts! Hey Sirius can I help make the pancakes?"

"Sure," Sirius replied grinning at Harry's excitement.

A few minutes later found the two boys rolling around the floor, covered in flour and eggs on top of their heads. Most parents would have regretted letting their children help once seeing the mess; but Sirius couldn't think of anything that would please him more. He loved seeing his godson laughing, that's all he wanted now because every time he looked at that messy black hair or into those bright green eyes, he was reminded of two of his best friends who had given their lives for this boy. So Sirius would give everything he had to make this boy happy at the least.

"Right squirt, we need to get you washed up!" Sirius said, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Fine. What are we going to do for breakfast? We have nothing left for pancakes, will we have to resort to frogs spawn juice and Hippogriff toes?" Harry asked.

"No I'm sure we'll find something else to eat," Sirius replied pushing his godson into the bathroom.

"It had better be good!" Harry said.

Sirius stuck out his tongue as Harry closed the bathroom door in his face.

About 15 minutes later Sirius entered his bedroom where Harry was sitting, already clean waiting. When Sirius got close to Harry he shook his wet hairy head all over Harry like a dog.

"Seriously Sirius, I swear you're related to a dog!" Harry commented after he had shielded himself with his arms from all of the water.

Sirius had never told Harry about his Animagus form, he didn't know why. It was probably because Remus hadn't told Harry his secret either. If Sirius didn't know Harry well he would say that Harry would be mad when he found out. But Sirius knew that Harry would find it really cool and would completely forget to be mad!

"Yeah well my dear old mother was a bit of a female dog!" Sirius muttered, "Oh by the way Remus is going to drop by later."

"Cool!"

"Ok, so shall we go to some Muggle restaurant for breakfast and take the Mick of them?" Sirius suggested.

"Yeah! Sounds great!"

"Ok get your coat and let's head out then!"

Harry went to grab his and Sirius put his on too. The both of them headed down the front steps and started walking along the pathway eyes peeled for any sign of a cafe.

"Sirius, won't you be kind of lonely when I go off to Hogwarts?" Harry asked when they had seated themselves at a small teashop.

"I'm sure I will be able to keep myself occupied!" Sirius replied as he started eyeing a bunch of muggle women.

"What like get a girlfriend?... That will be interesting!" Harry snorted.

"Hey, I've had loads of girlfriends," Sirius replied wondering why Harry thought he wouldn't get a girlfriend. Sirius had brought home at least one girl every two weeks.

"I'm sorry I meant. Are you going to have a girlfriend that will last more than 4 days?"

Sirius punched him playfully on the shoulder, "Watch It!"

"What would you like to order?" A pretty woman in her early thirties had just come up to the table. She was eyeing Sirius and fluttering her eyelashes.

"How about a beautiful woman who can get into bed with me?" Sirius asked.

Harry wasn't repulsed really by Sirius' tac-tics of getting a woman to go out with him, he found it quite funny and was used to it by now.

The woman laughed, "I could meet you out here at 5pm, that's when I finish!"

"Urgh, sorry, this little guy is keeping me at home tonight," Sirius mock-moaned pointing at Harry.

Harry grinned sweetly up at the woman. No matter what, Sirius would always put Harry before anything.

"That's ok, how about tomorrow?" She asked smiling back at Harry.

"Yes, that would be super!" Sirius replied smiling, "anyway, we'll have a coffee, hot-chocolate and two slices of double chocolate fudge cake please!"

"Good choices," the woman said as she scribbled their orders down on her notebook, "See you tomorrow."

She turned and walked away, and Harry whispered into Sirius' ear making him jump "I rest my case."

"What, she will last more than 4 days this time i swear!"

"That's what you say every single time!" Harry said just as their cake and drink arrived, which he was distracted immediately by.

"Urgh I'm stuffed!" Harry commented as they walked through the door one hour later; they had ordered about three more slices of chocolate cake each, 2 scones with whipped cream and jam, 4 chocolate chip muffins and some more hot chocolates and coffee's!

"Yeah, but how the hell do you manage to stay so skinny when you eat the amount of an elephant every day?"

"You can talk; you're the one who finished off my cake when I didn't want anymore!"

"Well I didn't want to waste it," Sirius replied as he took off his coat off and hung it by the door, "so what do you want to do now?"

"Quidditch!" Harry said.

"Did I need to ask?"

"No!"

So the two of them set off into the back garden with Sirius' old cleansweeps and quaffles in their hands. They kicked off into the air and started throwing the quaffle to one another.

"Sirius?" Harry asked.

"Yes Harry."

"When are we going to Diagon Alley?"

"I was thinking your birthday, we could go with Moony if you want."

"Yeah, that would be great!" Harry replied, almost falling off his broom with excitement, "so I'm going to get a wand?"

"If you're good," Sirius replied

"Oh I will be..."

The two boys stayed in the air for a long time and didn't even stop for lunch when Sirius summoned two blueberry muffins and some carrots which they ate in the air.

When the sky was beginning to turn from bright blue to inky blue, a soft voice called from below.

"Are you two going to come down, or stay up there all night and freeze to death?"

"MOONY!" Harry cried, pushing his broom down so he landed two seconds later. He ran up to Remus and gave him a hug, "Guess what? Guess what? I got my letter from Hogwarts!"

"No way!" Said Remus, pretending to be shocked by this news.

"I know," said Sirius who had just landed beside Harry, "Hogwarts has made the biggest mistake ever; I won't be surprised if I get a call from Minnie on the first day begging me to take you home."

Harry charged at Sirius and wrestled him to the ground.

"Okay, okay you two," Remus said chuckling as he tried to rip Harry from Sirius, "It's cold, let's go inside."

When the other two still didn't stop rolling around on the ground Remus just made his way inside without them and sat at the kitchen table waiting for them to finish. He looked around the room and smiled when he saw more 10 years worth of extra photos.

There were pictures of Remus and Sirius cheering Harry on when he was making his first steps. There was a picture of Harry covered from head to toe at the age of 4 when he had climbed to the top of the cupboard to try and get some cookies but ended up knocking a sack of flour on top of himself. There were pictures of Harry beating Sirius at Wizards chess and Remus holding Sirius back so that he didn't curse Harry into oblivion.

Remus glanced around and spotted a picture of the Marauders and right next to it the picture of the day Harry had been born, Sirius had removed Peter from all the pictures in his whole house.

About ten minutes later Sirius and Harry appeared in the door. Even though they had ruffled up hair and their jeans had grass stains on them, Sirius had his arm slung over Harry's shoulder and Harry was chatting excitedly to Sirius about the new Nimbus 2000.

Remus grinned, Harry was so lucky that Sirius was there for him through everything and he could tell Harry knew it.


	3. Thanks For Everything

You're Not Alone

Chapter 3 –Thanks For Everything

Harry woke up the morning of his birthday. He reached sideways towards his bedside table feeling around for his glasses. When he found them he shoved them on his face and slowly opened his sleepy eyes. The light from the warm sun was flooding through the gap in the curtains and Harry could see the dust floating like glitter along the ray of sun.

Harry sat there for quite a while with his knees tucked up against his chest watching the movements of the specks of dust. He looked around his large room which Sirius had decorated for him, it was pale blue but changed colour depending on what time of day it was, during the day it was pale blue and fluffy white clouds floated around and a snitch, quaffle or bludger would occasionally zoom across the ceiling, at night it turned dark blue or even black, the clouds would disappear and stars would glow over his head. He thought, like he did every day, about how lucky he was that he had an amazing godfather, who was always there for him, no matter what, someone who he could have fun with, just like a dad.

"Wow, not up to bed jumping today, huh?" said a soft voice from Harry's bedroom door.

"No I am! I was just thinking," Harry replied.

"Thinking about what?" said Sirius coming over to sit on the edge of Harry's bed.

"Everything," Harry said looking up in to Sirius' loving and understanding eyes.

"I see... So Diagon Alley today?"

"Diagon Alley, but you said we were going to Diagon Alley on-" Harry stopped for a moment and looked at his godfather who grinned, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!"

"What? No way!" Sirius pretended to be surprised.

"And we're going to Diagon Alley... Guess what?"

"What?" Sirius asked.

"I'm getting a wand today!"

"No way!"

"Yes way. Please can we have some breakfast, I'm absolutely starving!" Harry asked jumping out of bed.

"I'm sure that could be arranged," Sirius said following Harry down the stairs and into the kitchen, "what would you like?"

"Spaghetti with chocolate please!"

"WHAT? For breakfast?"

"Yes, I think it's quite a cool combination!" Said Harry reaching up onto a shelf to get the spaghetti.

"I can't disagree with you there..." Sirius said as he waved his wand so the spaghetti started to boil in the water.

10 minutes later the two dark haired boys were sitting at the kitchen table tucking into their spaghetti with chocolate.

"So Harry do you want your presents now, or later?" Sirius asked.

"I have presents?" Harry said, a huge grin spreading all over his chocolatey face.

"No, I didn't get my favourite godson presents... Of course you have presents silly, would you like them or not?"

"Yes please, thank you Sirius,"

Sirius smiled and waved his wand; a huge pile of badly wrapped presents came flying down the stairs and landed in front of Harry.

Harry took the first one off the pile and glanced up at Sirius, who gave him a nod of encouragement.

"Wow Sirius you really haven't got any better at wrapping presents have you?" Harry commented as he neatly took off the wrapping paper which had snitches and broomsticks all over it.

"Shut up you and open your presents," Sirius joked.

The first present was a Chudley Cannons poster which Harry immediately took upstairs to stick onto his wall.

His second present was a proper snitch which Harry immediately set free to fly around the room until he caught it.

His third present was a mirror, Harry looked up at Sirius and frowned, "What's this for?"

"Your father and I bought these when we were in second year because over the summer I was trapped in my house, until i left that is, and your dad and I used these to contact each other. I have the other one, so you can talk to me whenever you meant when you're at school, well that's if you have time for me!"Sirius explained.

"Thank you so much Padfoot," Harry said running up and giving Sirius a hug.

Sirius pulled Harry onto his lap, held him close and passed him the last present.

Harry unwrapped it carefully; beneath the wrapping paper was a leather book. Harry opened it, on the first page was a picture of Remus, Sirius and James having a snowball fight in their first year of Hogwarts (Peter had obviously been removed, Harry didn't even know that they even had another friend) Harry studied the picture closely for a while before turning the page. Throughout the book were pictures of Remus, Sirius and James growing up. Towards the end Lily started to appear, the first one she appeared in she was getting annoyed with James for one reason or another! Sirius explained that James was in love with Lily from first year, but it took Lily until 6th year to realise that she was in love with James too! The last picture in the album was the picture that Lily had sent to Sirius after Harry's birthday with Harry rushing around the room on his new toy broomstick.

Harry brushed his hand over the picture and looked up at Sirius, "Was this where I lived? You know, before Voldemort destroyed it?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yes, yes it was," Sirius bit his lip when he looked at Harry. About two years ago Sirius had told Harry the whole story of what happened that night and they had spent a few hours cuddled up on the sofa, with Harry crying into Sirius' shoulder. Harry rarely cried and when he did it felt like the end of the world for Sirius.

"Thank you Sirius," Harry said reaching up to give his godfather a hug.

"It's a pleasure," Sirius replied.

Their hug was interrupted when they heard a rush of wind coming from the living room, Sirius and Harry jumped off their seats, Sirius held his wand up to the door leading from the kitchen to the living room and Harry held up his fork.

Remus John Lupin appeared at the doorway, "Sirius, it's only me!" he looked over at Harry and chuckled, "Happy Birthday Harry! I'm going to get you your present when we're in Diagon Alley. Are you looking forward to going to Diagon Alley today?"

"Yep," Harry replied grinning showing a full set of chocolate covered teeth.

"What on earth have you been eating?" Remus asked frowning at Sirius and Harry's plates full of chocolate spaghetti.

"Chocolate spaghetti," Sirius replied grinning exactly the same way as Harry and, like Harry, showing chocolate covered teeth.

Remus rolled his eyes, "Will you ever grow up Sirius. If you're not careful Harry will end up just like you."

"I don't mind being just like Sirius, except I don't really like his nose or his mouth..." Harry replied, scooping up the last mouthful of chocolate spaghetti and running away as Sirius made a grab for him.

"Be careful mister, I might just disown you and make you live with Remus," Sirius said when he had caught Harry and was playfully ruffling his hair while he was held in a headlock.

Harry ducked out of Sirius' grip "I wouldn't really mind that either!" He ran to give Remus a hug then gathered up his presents and took them to his room. Sirius followed him up the stairs.

About 5 minutes later the boys returned, they had changed from their pyjamas and had brushed their teeth.

"Guess what Moony?" Harry asked as soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"What?" Remus asked.

"I'M GETTING A WAND TODAY!"

"Wow Harry I think you might just beat Sirius at shouting the loudest!" Remus commented.

"I DON'T THINK HE QUITE DOES" Sirius bellowed, shaking the house.

"I THINK I DO," Harry screamed, still getting louder.

Before Sirius could shout louder Remus cut in, "Okay lets go get you a wand Harry. Do you have your list of equipment that came with your letter?"

Harry nodded and patted his pocket, then skipped off to the fireplace, took a handful of Floo powder and shouted "Diagon Alley", with a swirl of green flames he had gone.

Remus and Sirius quickly followed and quickly found Harry surrounded by a group of people gasping at the sight of 'The Boy Who Lived'.

Harry looked at Sirius pleadingly and Sirius chuckled and quickly dragged Harry away after he declared that there was a hippogriff in the corner, causing everyone to turn around.

"I keep forgetting," Harry muttered as they went out the back of the Leaky Cauldron.

Sirius tapped the combination of bricks and Diagon Alley was revealed before them.

Wizards and witches were rushing about shopping for all sorts of things that they needed for the upcoming year.

"Gringotts first then?" Sirius said as the three men walked down the street towards the huge building that was towering over all the shops.

Even though Harry had been to Gringotts hundreds of times, he still looked around it i awe every time he went.

"So Harry which one?" Sirius asked, stopping Harry's train of thought.

Every time Harry and Sirius went to Gringotts they always chose which Goblin they thought looked the nicest and chose that one to ask them if they could visit their vaults.

"That one there," Harry pointed at the Goblin he had selected, "the one that's next to the one serving Hagrid,"

Sirius nodded and they walked up to the Goblin they had picked.

"-from Professor Dumbledore," Hagrid was talking in a hushed voice to the Goblin that was serving him, "it's about the you-know-what in vault seven hundred and thirteen," Harry frowned at Hagrid wondering what he was on about.

Seeing Harry, Sirius and Remus Hagrid exclaimed "Oh 'ello Harry, 'ow are ya?"

"I'm very well thank you Hagrid, how are you?" Harry replied. He had known Hagrid his whole life because he often came round for dinner.

Before Hagrid could reply a goblin summoned him to go to vault seven hundred and thirteen.

"How may I help you?" asked Harry's chosen Goblin.

"We would like to visit the vaults of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Harry Potter please," Sirius replied confidently.

Harry looked at his godfather proudly; he wasn't sure whether he could speak to a goblin that confidently.

The Goblin leaned over his tall desk to look at Harry and Remus.

"Very well, could you please give me the keys?" The Goblin asked, staring at Harry's scar.

Remus fetched his key and Sirius got out his own and Harry's keys, the Goblin was still staring at Harry's scar when he was taking the keys off them.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't stare. It's rude." Sirius commented sternly.

The Goblin nodded in apology, "Griphook, please take these three wizards to their vaults,"

A goblin stepped in front of Harry, Remus and Sirius and Harry guessed this was Griphook.

About half an hour later the three boys had returned from Gringotts, their bags considerably heavier that when they entered with all the gold they had taken from their vaults.

"Can I meet you outside Ollivanders in an hour? I have a few errands I need to run first," Remus asked.

Harry and Sirius nodded and Remus went off down another section of the Alley.

Harry and Sirius strolled down the street, entering Flourish and Blotts, and the Apothecary to get books and instruments for Harry's first year at Hogwarts. But after about an hour they finally reached Ollivanders, the shop Harry had been waiting for. Remus had not yet arrived but Sirius and Harry went inside anyway.

"Hello? Mr Ollivander?" Harry called; he looked around the dusty shop, full of shelves upon shelves of boxes.

"Why, I wondered when I'd be seeing you here Mr Potter," Came an old and husky voice from next to Harry, "Yes, you have your mothers eyes, Ah it seems like only yesterday that your mother and father were here buying their first wands,"

Mr Ollivander stepped in front of Harry, his eyes looked empty and misty, and they scared Harry a bit. They moved slowly to the scar on Harry's forehead, "Ah yes and that's where..." he stared at Harry for a moment, "I'm afraid to say i sold the wand that did it, it was a powerful wand that was, but in the wrong hands..." He trailed off, still not taking his misty eyes of Harry's scar.

Harry could tell that Sirius was getting uncomfortable behind him but Harry waved his hand behind him to show Sirius that it was okay.

"Well no Mr Potter," Ollivander finally removed his eyes from Harry's forehead, "Let's have a look,"

He measured Harry's arm and the width of his nose and some other strange places he also asked which was Harry's wand arm and Harry told him right. Mr Ollivander went behind the shelves and came back a few minutes later with a pile of boxes. He opened the first box and handed the wand to Harry; Harry stood there and didn't really know what to do.

"Well wave it then," Ollivander said.

Harry waved the wand trying to mimic how Sirius did it but it was snatched out of his hand almost instantly. Another one was placed in his hand and Harry did the same, he managed to smash a vase which caused Sirius to snort behind him. Harry turned around and stuck his tongue out at Sirius, Sirius did the same back.

Harry turned back around to face Ollivander who had picked up another wand and was staring at it, he then looked at Harry, then the wand again, "Hmmm I wonder," Mr Ollivander said as he gave the wand to Harry.

Harry took it and instantly felt warmth spread through him, he waved the wand and this time a stream of red and gold sparks flew out of the wand.

"Oh bravo, yes this is your wand Mr Potter, Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven Inches, nice and supple," He stopped for a moment, "How curious, very curious..." He muttered.

"I'm sorry Mr Ollivander but what's curious?" Harry asked.

"Well Mr Potter, it appears the phoenix that gave its feather for that wand, gave another feather, to the wand that gave you that scar. That's what's curious,"

Harry gasped and he heard Sirius do the same behind him, Harry blinked.

"The wand chooses the wizard remember," Mr Ollivander carried on, "I think we can expect great things from you Mr Potter, after all He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things... terrible, but gre-"

"I think that's enough thank you Mr Ollivander," Sirius said rushing to Harry's side. Sirius placed the right amount of money into Mr Ollivanders hand and quickly turned Harry around and they left.

Remus was waiting outside for them, "Have fun Harry? Okay should we go get an ice cream, and then we can go and get you some robes from Madame Malkins?"

Harry nodded his head and smiled, he loved the Ice Cream Parlour.

"Oh, I almost forgot, Happy Birthday Harry," Remus handed Harry a bird cage and inside was a beautiful snowy white owl.

"Thank you so much Remus," Harry said giving Remus a one-armed hug (the other arm was holding the owl cage).

Harry walked along with Sirius and Remus to Florean Fortscues Ice Cream Parlour. He decided he was going to call the owl Hedwig.

Sirius was un commonly quiet the whole way to the parlour but Harry was too distracted by the bird to really notice.

Harry was first to finish his ice cream, but needed to go to the toilet so left Remus and Sirius. When he came back he saw that they were having a very serious conversation and Harry knew what it was about. However Harry was grateful because Remus seemed to have said something good because Sirius was back to his cheery self.

The three of them went to Madame Malkins and just as they were about to enter a boy, about the same age as Harry bumped into him.

"Oi watch it," The boy was pale and he had white blonde hair and a pointy nose, he was accompanied by his mother and father who looked at Harry, Sirius and Remus like they were dirt.

"Sorry," Harry muttered.

"Hey, you're Harry Potter, look dad it's Harry Potter," The boy looked at his father who nodded but didn't seem interested at all, "Ha. You're famous, what house do you want to be in? I want to be in Slytherin, only good house in my opinion; all the other houses accept scum like mud bloods and blood traitors. We should be friends, you don't want to make friends with the wrong sort of people," The boy said.

Harry didn't know what a mud-blood was, but immediately decided he didn't like this boy, "I want to be in Gryffindor, that's what my parents were in, and Sirius and Remus," Harry said proudly, "So i don't think we can be friends because I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself,"

The boys eyes darkened, "Oh yes, you're parents, made you famous because they were weak and stupid in my opinion,"

Harry completely lost his temper and so did Sirius, Harry pounced on the boy and started punching every inch of him, Sirius had heard his father mutter 'Well said my boy,' and had resorted to punching him. Eventually Remus managed to drag Harry and Sirius into the shop.

Harry had tears running down his face and Sirius was red in the face with anger. Harry straight away hugged Sirius and cried into his shoulder. Sirius held his boy close, still cursing the Malfoy boy in his brain. How could someone say that to someone like Harry? Harry eventually calmed down and went to get his robes fitted. Sirius decided to take Harry home for his birthday tea.

Their tea was delicious but quite quiet. Harry had to try really hard to stop himself from crying right there and then.

As soon as tea was over Harry declared that he was tired and wanted to go to bed. He ran up the stairs and quickly got changed and brushed his teeth and snuggled under the duvet.

Downstairs Sirius and Remus were talking about the day's activities, "I feel so bad Remus, this has been like the worst birthday ever," Sirius said, sinking into the sofa.

"Oh no Padfoot it hasn't it's just been emotional, he'll be fine, he's a very strong boy," Remus replied.

"I know he is," Sirius said.

"Sorry Padfoot I have to go, bye,"

"Bye Moony," Sirius said just as Remus disappeared through the fireplace.

Sirius buried his head in his hands and sighed, his thoughts whirled around in his head. He got up and crept up the stairs to see if Harry was okay. He peeked through the gap between Harry's door and doorframe. Harry was sat up in bed, tears dribbling down his cheeks as he flicked through the photo album Sirius had given him. Sirius went into the room causing Harry to look up.

Sirius sat next to Harry in his bed and put an arm around him, "I'm so sorry Harry," Sirius began.

"For what? You haven't done anything, I'm sorry," Harry replied burying his head in Sirius' shirt and smelling his comforting doggy smell, "Your life would be so much easier without me, you could go on a date every night and not have to worry about looking after me, you wouldn't have to deal with my pointless dramas over nothing, you-"

Sirius cut him off, "Listen to me Harry James Potter maybe my life would b e easier without you because i might not have to wake up at 6am every morning. But without you my life would be so boring. And Harry you don't have pointless dramas over nothing, what that boy said to you wasn't fair and it wasn't true and he deserved all that punching you gave him, and more,"

"Thank you Padfoot,"

"For what?"

"Everything,"

Authors Note: Okay sorry it took a while for me to finish this one, I've been busy! BTW I've updated the other chapters so they're slightly better Please review and give me advice xx


	4. The Hogwarts Express

You're Not Alone

Chapter 4 – The Hogwarts Express

"Harry, you need to wake up squirt," Sirius gently shook Harry, frowning, normally Harry was the human alarm, and today he slept, "You're going to Hogwarts today,"

Harry sat up straight, "I am?"

Sirius chuckled, "Yeah, how come you didn't wake up?"

"I dunno, I was having a dream," Harry replied as he got out of bed.

"About what?" Sirius asked.

"My parents getting mad at you because you let me stay up until 9:30 last night," Harry replied casually.

"Oh I see," Sirius said before rugby tackling Harry onto his shoulders and carrying him downstairs.

Sirius made Harry and himself chocolate waffles.

When they had both finished, and also managed to get as much chocolate around their faces as humanly possible Sirius sent Harry upstairs to get dressed and ready while Sirius levitated his trunk downstairs.

Remus arrived just as Harry was coming down the stairs, "you ready to go Harry?" he asked.

Harry nodded and grinned at the two men standing proudly before him.

"Right Harry have you got your wand?" Sirius asked, Harry nodded, "Hedwig?" Harry nodded, "Glasses?" Harry pointed to his glasses which were resting on his nose, "and Trunk?" Harry nodded, "Okay Harry, you can apparate with Remus and I'll take your trunk," Sirius said walking towards Harry's Hogwarts trunk.

Harry walked over to Remus and took his arm, they instantly disappeared, and two seconds later they appeared with a 'pop' at Kings Cross Station. The sun shone through the glass roof making the whole place seem brighter.

Sirius appeared a few minutes later with another 'pop'.

"Platform Nine and Three-Quarters here we come," he said, leading Harry and Remus down the Platforms, past seven, then eight. Finally they reached Platform Nine and headed towards the barrier between nine and ten.

A family had just gone through the barrier when Sirius, Remus and Harry arrived.

"Ready Harry?" Sirius asked after he had checked to see if any muggles were looking or were close by.

Harry nodded excitedly and took Sirius' arm. They ran towards the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Harry closed his eyes as they ran towards the solid wall, even though he knew that he would go straight through just as Sirius had always told him.

Harry re-opened his eyes at the sound of Sirius muttering next to him "Well there it is. I haven't seen that in a while."  
In front of Harry stood a bright red train, it had a yellow plaque of it with the words 'Hogwarts Express' written in bold black letters on it. White smoke was billowing out of the bright red chimney at the front of the train and was mixing through with all the parents and students on the platform below making things very tricky to see.

Remus had obviously appeared behind Harry because he could hear him and Sirius chuckling.

"What are you laughing at?" Harry asked spinning around.

"Your face," Sirius replied smiling and ruffling Harry's already messy hair.

"What do you think?" Remus asked gesturing around the whole of platform 9 and ¾.

"It's amazing," Harry answered grinning.

The three boys made their way along the train to where people were boarding it. Many children pointed and whispered to family and friends as Harry passed, he was used to it and just ignored them.

They walked past a large family of red-heads, the small girl was clinging to her mother but when she saw Harry she gasped and jumped before begging her mother if she could go and get his autograph.

"Right squirt do you want me to help you get your trunk onto the train?" Sirius asked when they reached a door to get into the Hogwarts Express.

"Yes please," Harry said.

Sirius lifted Harry's trunk onto the train and made his way along the corridor, Harry following closely behind. They soon found an empty compartment and Sirius put Harry's trunk on the overhead shelves. They quickly got off the train and went onto the platform again where Remus was waiting.

"Sirius lifted Harry into a bone crushing hug. When he put Harry down he said "Have an amazing time Harry, if you need to contact me use your mirror even if you just want to say hi! Don't play too many pranks but... you know... twenty or thirty a week won't hurt," he winked at Harry before sweeping him into a hug again and placing a kiss on the top of his head, "I'm gonna really miss you Harry."

Harry smiled hugging Sirius back, "I'm gonna miss you too," he said into Sirius' shirt.

After Sirius let go Harry ran up to Remus and hugged him too, "Bye Moony, I'll miss you," he said.

"Bye Harry, don't cause too much trouble," Remus replied as he let go of Harry and watched him climb onto the train.

"See you at Christmas," Sirius said waving, "Oh, and give Snape a good kick up the- OUCH... anyway, bye Harry," Harry chucked as Remus kicked Sirius hard in the shin.

"Bye," Harry called before turning and walking down the corridor towards his compartment.

When he got there the train had started to move. Harry stuck his head out the window and gave Remus and Sirius one last wave before the train turned a corner and they disappeared from sight.

Harry turned around and sat on his seat, a huge grin still on his face. He, Harry, was going to Hogwarts, the place where the Marauders had played most of their brilliant pranks, and the place where his parents had spent seven years of their lives.

The only thing that worried Harry slightly was that he didn't know anyone, he never really thought about having any wizard friends because Remus and Sirius were the best friends he could ask for.

His thoughts were interrupted as the door of the compartment slid open and one of the red-heads Harry had seen earlier entered, "Please could I sit here?" He asked, "Everywhere else is full."

Harry nodded his head eagerly, glad that he could start to get to know some people and that he would have some company on the long journey to Hogwarts.

The boy was tall and his face was covered in freckles, he heaved his trunk into the compartment and, with Harry's help, lifted it onto another overhead shelf.

"I'm Ron Weasley," he said as he sat down opposite Harry.

"I'm Harry Potter," Harry replied, knowing what was going to happen next.

Sure enough Ron's mouth dropped open and his eyes darted to his scar for a few moments, "Is that where... you-kn-"

"Voldemort tried to kill me but failed? Yeah," Harry said cutting Ron off, before frowning at Ron's even more shocked expression, "What?" he asked.

"You- you said you-know-who's name!" Ron said staring at Harry.

"Well yeah, I always have, Sirius said there's nothing to be afraid of, it's just a name,"

Ron nodded but their conversation was stopped by the compartment door sliding open again. Three boys entered the two boys on the outside were very large and very stupid looking; they both had short dark hair and had some sort of cake aroun their mouths. The boy in the middle Harry recognised as the pale blonde he had met – and punched – at Diagon Alley.

He started to speak but Harry cut him off almost instantly "You might want to leave _Malfoy _or you might not make it off the train... oh wouldn't you mother be worried," He said aggressively.

"I would say the same to you, but oh, shame, you don't have a mother do you?" Malfoy replied icily, "All you have is a blood traitor who smells of do-"

Within the space of about five seconds Ron's hand had shot out, punched Malfoy in the face and he was now lying on the floor with blood gushing out of his nose and top lip.

Harry slammed the door she after Malfoy had crawled out and the two large boys walked out, looking too shocked (and stupid) to do anything.

Two red haired boys, who could only be Ron's brothers entered, "We want to congratulate whoever punched that-" They stopped and stared at Ron who was blushing, obviously shocked himself at what he had just done, "Wow Ron, YOU punched him? Well little brother, I think I might just be proud of you. But what made you do it?" One of the twins asked.

Once he had got over the shock, Ron grinned up at his brothers, "He was being rude about Harry's mother," He replied glancing at Harry.

"Harry? You don't mean to say-" The other twin began before his eyes fell on Harry. Neither of them had noticed Harry yet because their attention had been focused on Ron's achievement.

"Blimey, Harry Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm George Weasley, and this is Fred," Said George.

"Hi," Harry said smiling.

"Well we must be off, Lee said he had something to show us," Fred said. And with that they were gone.

"Thanks Ron," Harry said once the compartment doors had slid shut behind the twins.

"No problem," he replied, blushing again.

"How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"Well there are seven including me. Bill's the oldest, he works for Gringotts; then there's Charlie who works in Romania with dragons; then Percy, he's in his fifth year at Hogwarts and is a prefect; then there's Fred and George, they're in their third year; then me; then Ginny, she's the only girl and she's a year younger than me."

"Wow," Harry said "I've always wanted a big family, but it's just me and Sirius."

"Who's Sirius?" Ron asked.

"He's my godfather; I've lived with him ever since my parents died. Apparently i have some Muggle aunt who's my mum's sister and she has a husband and a son but I've never met them. Sirius said that they're not very nice people who hate magic," Harry replied laughing a little.

Ron nodded, "What house do you want to be in?" he asked.

"Gryffindor," Harry replied instantly, "You?"

"Yeah, Gryffindor too, my whole family have been there," Ron replied.

The door of the compartment slid open again, this time it was an old woman pushing a large trolley full of all sorts of sweet snacks, "Anything off the trolley dears?" she asked.

Ron looked at the sweets longingly but muttered something about sandwiches.

Harry however jumped to his feet and ordered about ten of his favourites: Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, and Pumpkin Pasties.

"Help yourself, I'm not gonna manage all this," Harry said once he had returned from the trolley and emptied all the sweets onto the empty seat next to him.

"Thanks," Ron said, pushing his sandwiches aside and grabbing a packed of Droobles.

"Do you have any pets?" Harry asked after spitting out a sprout flavoured bean.

"Yeah, I have Scabbers," Ron said pulling a fat brown garden rat out of his pocket, "He used to be Percy's but he got an owl for becoming prefect so I got this. He's a bit pathetic isn't he?"

Harry laughed just as the door of his and Ron's compartment slid open again. The girl who entered had bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth, she, unlike Harry and Ron had already changed into her Hogwarts robes.

"Hello, my name's Hermione Granger, have either of you seen a toad, a boy called Neville's lost his," she spoke in a bossy voice which reminded Harry a bit of Professor McGonagall (who he had met once before in Diagon Alley with Sirius).

"No," said Ron, "why does he even want to find it? If I had a toad i would want to get rid of it straight away... mind you i can't really talk," He said lifting Scabbers out of his pocket.

"He says his mother would be upset if he lost it, because his grandmother gave it to him only a week ago," Hermione said frowning, "So what are your names?"

"I'm Ron Weasley,"

"I'm Harry Potter,"

Hermione gasped and had the same sort of expression Ron had had, "Are you really? I did wonder whether you'd be coming, I've read all about you of course because i got a few extra books for background reading, you're in _Modern Magical History_, _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts _and-"

"_Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_," Harry interrupted her as he already knew he was in these books because he owned every one of them (Flourish and Blotts had given him them for free just because he was in them) but he had never read them because Sirius and himself didn't really like being reminded of the past "Yeah, I know."

"Well, I'd better be going," Hermione said, looking quite embarrassed, and with that she left.

When Hermione had left Harry picked up the daily prophet that was lying next to him that he had taken from Sirius' desk a few days before.

"Blimey, someone tried to break into Gringotts," said Ron who was reading over Harry's shoulder.

"Yeah," said Harry as he quickly read the article (he had been reading about some Azkaban prisoner), "a high security one as well."

Harry looked out of the window, it was starting to get dark outside, he could see dark silhouettes of mountains and trees which were standing out in front of the bright moon.

"We should probably change into our robes, we'll be there soon," Harry said.

A few minutes later the two boys were dressed in their black Hogwarts robes. The train was starting to slow down. Harry looked out of the window again to see Hogsmeade station illuminated by the floodlights towering over it.

Harry felt butterflies in his stomach as the train slowly came to a halt.

_Authors Note: Thank you all so much for the fantastic reviews! But as always i would love more i know this chapter is a bit boring but it was really showing personalities and the friendship between Harry and Ron building, I hope you enjoyed!_


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